Three semifinalists emerge from Cincinnati daytime matches

Iga Świątek celebrates defeating Mirra Andreeva in Cincinnati. pic.twitter.com/z74EU1ZNY4

— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) August 17, 2024

Today's competitors at the Cincinnati Open had multiple opponents. There was someone across the net, of course, but there was also the wind and the heat. Top seed Iga Swiatek faced 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva for the first time, lost the first set, then--after winning the second one--had to deal with a ten-minute heat break. Swiatek won the match, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, and said afterwards that the heat break was not helpful to her. 

Quite the contrary, she said: "I think I only had like, one, like, this kind of break in my life, and I think we were both kind of rusty at the beginning of the third set. Like, miss-hitting a lot." Swiatek went on to say that this was something she has to learn how to deal with.

Andreeva was impressive, hitting twelve aces and saving eight of ten break points. She could be as high as number 21 in the world next week. Today's victory was Swiatek's 30th WTA 1000 win of the season.

Aryna Sabalenka, who came into the event with a 1-2 record against Liudmila Samsonova, evened that score by defeating the 10th seed 6-3, 6-2. Sabalenka said "I think the main thing is to stay low and to put all that speed back to her and, yeah, and fight for every point." The Cincinnati courts are playing very fast, and Sabalenka said that the ball moves faster on the Grandstand than it does on Center Court.

The world number 3 (who will again be the world number 2 next week) will face Swiatek in the semifinals. She is 3-8 against Swiatek overall, but only 2-3 against her on hard courts. But that doesn't mean too much, according to Sabalenka: "I wouldn't say that going against world number 1, surface can really help you to get the win."

This is the fourth time that Sabalenka has advanced to the Cincinnati semifinals.

Toronto champion Jessica Pegula is now on a nine-match win streak, after having defeated Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 6-7, 7-6(3) in a semifinal that lasted over three hours. Fernandez saved four match points, and has enjoyed a really good run in Cincinnati, but it's 6th seed Pegula who advances to play either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Paula Badosa, who will play in the last semifinal tonight.